Delhi AQI worsens to 437, ministers given districts to monitor GRAP execution

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, November 9

Air quality in the national capital worsened as the Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the ‘severe’ category. The AQI on Thursday was recorded at 437. It was 426 yesterday.

Weather monitoring agency – Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) — has predicted ‘very light rain’ in one or two places in Delhi.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered the Chief Secretary of Delhi to present Delhi’s side to the Supreme Court tomorrow on the issue of generating artificial rain. The apex court is slated to take up the matter tomorrow. The Delhi Government will submit its report on artificial rain and odd-even car rationing schemes. IIT Kanpur is partnering with the Delhi Government on artificial rain.

Kejriwal said the government is ready to bear all the expenses and if the central government supports the proposal so that the first artificial rain could be made on November 20. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai had said that it would take decisions on the matters following the orders of the top court.

According to the air quality early warning system of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the predominant surface winds in Delhi are likely to be at a speed of 4-10 kmph. Such low wind speeds mean the air pollutants are not expected to go away.

The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘severe’ category tomorrow and is expected to improve with the possibility of rain and be in the ‘very poor’ category from November 11-12. Gopal Rai held a joint emergency meeting with all the ministers of the Delhi Government. “To eliminate negligence and indifference, we have decided that all ministers will go on the ground and ensure strict adherence to Graded Response Action Plan stage-IV rules,” Rai said.

“Ministers will collaborate with their respective district’s nodal officers, monitor officers working on the ground and issue necessary directives,” the minister added.

The ministers’ visits will mainly focus on borders such as Panipat -Singhu border, Ghazipur – Ghaziabad border, Gurgaon border, Shahdara – UP Delhi border, Bahadurgarh (Haryana-Delhi) border and Kapashera (Haryana-Delhi) border.

The circular from the office of the Environment Minister said, “Cabinet ministers have been assigned districts to monitor the strict implementation of various actions required under different stages of GRAP.”

The districts assigned are as follows: Gopal Rai (North and Northeast), Kailash Gahlot (South-West and West), Atishi (East and Southeast), Saurabh Bhardwaj (South and New Delhi), Imran Hussain (Central and Shahdara) and Raj Kumar Anand (North-West).